Or something like that. And this month in particular. But don't be put off by the abstractnesses outlined in these talks' abstracts. (Or by our beginning sentences with conjunctions.) Come, grasp a cold alcoholic beverage while grasping the seemingly ungraspable: Make code, not war! Mine, define, recombine data! Let your sweat, tears, and pounding pulse be your guides! Be there and be square!

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"Cyber-Peace? WTF Is That?" by Rick Wesson

After spending a few years fabricating digital warheads Rick Wesson is exploring the flip side of the torpedo: the concept of "peace" in cyberspace. What can cyber-peace be amid the escalating tensions in the virtual world? With the current threats to our privacy and the open commons being facilitated by the NSA, their for-profit contractors, and your favorite Silicon Valley "cyber-crime fighters," it behooves us all to join a different kind of anti-war movement. Make code, not war!

Rick is CEO of network security company Support Intelligence and protagonist of Worm: The First Digital World War, among other impressive acronymic involvements (ICANN, DNSSEC). When not growing organic veggies, building shotspotters, herding sheep, and being a patriot, he enjoys coding out of a 40’ shipping container.

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"Demystifying Data Science" by Jessica Kirkpatrick

Data. There's a heck of a lot of it floating around out there. But how do we discover it, rein it in, interpret it, and make it findable, understandable, and useful? Well, it helps to be an statistician, computer scientist, firefighter, treasure hunter and therapist rolled into one--or you could become what has been called the sexiest job of the 21st century: data scientist! So, what exactly is data science? How is all this data changing business? And how does one enter this hot new field?

Jessica is an astrophysicist-turned-data scientist. After receiving her PhD from UC Berkeley in 2012, she joined the data science team at the social network Yammer.

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"Sweat and Arousal: Measuring and Designing for Emotions" by Elliott Hedman

A kid jumping into a ball pit. A shopper navigating the supermarket. An audience experiencing the Blue Man Group. You grabbing a beer and watching this presentation. In all these activities, emotions physically change the body and mind. Why does this matter? How can we better design our world to respond to these fluctuating, subconscious physical responses? By the end of this talk, you will know how to have a better colonoscopy, why bridges are a great place to find a date, and how to build a better emotional experience.

Elliott arrives from the MIT Media Lab/IDEO where his PhD focuses on making emotions tangible by measuring subconscious, physical responses. He dreams of a day when milk will be placed at the front of the store.

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DJ Alpha Bravo mans the decks, spinning vinyl and tweeting along to the presentations' themes. Find out what you're listening to by following @djalphabravo.